mama – English noun declension

English noun forms of mama

Noun: mama
Singularmama
Pluralmamas

Sample Sentences

  • I love the cookies which mama bakes me every week.
  • [S]hée is admoniſhed of nature, yea commaunded of dutie, to cheriſhe hir owne childe, with hir owne teates, otherwiſe when the babe ſhall nowe beginne to tattle and call hir Mamma, with what force canne ſhe heare it of his mouth vnto whome ſhée hath denyed Mamma? [[1578], Iohn Lylly [i.e., John Lyly], “Of the Education of Youth”, in Euphues. The Anatomy of Wyt. […], London: […] [Thomas East] for Gabriell Cawood, […], →OCLC, folio 51, recto:]
  • The Ideas of the Nurſe, and the Mother, are vvell framed in their Minds; and, like Pictures of them there, repreſent only thoſe Individuals. The Names they firſt give to them, are confined to theſe Individuals; and the names of Nurſe, and Mamma, the Child uſes, determine themſelves to thoſe Perſons. [1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], “Of General Terms”, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book III, § 7, page 191:]
  • This begets Scorn, hovv can one stand in avve, / Of a vain Tavvdry, Amorous Mamma. [1691, Tho[mas] Shadwell, “Epilogue”, in The Scowrers. A Comedy, […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC:]
  • If he keep out of the vvay, my Papa and Mama may in time relent, and vve may be happy.—If he ſtays, he is hang'd, and then he is loſt for ever! [1728, [John] Gay, The Beggar’s Opera. […], London: […] John Watts, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene xii, page 16:]
  • Alack, mama, it vvas all your ovvn fault. You vvould be for running avvay by night, vvithout knovving one inch of the vvay. [1773, [Oliver] Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer: Or, The Mistakes of a Night. A Comedy. […], London: […] F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, Act V, page 102:]
  • I can't but say that his mamma was right, / If such an education was the true one. [1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto I, stanza XLVIII, page 27:]
  • "Mama!" cried the child sobbing aloud. "Oh dear Mama! oh dear Mama!" [1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “Dombey and Son”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 8:]
  • Charles […] respected his mother, and he loved his wife infinitely; he considered the judgment of the one infallible, and yet he thought the conduct of the other irreproachable. When Madame Bovary had gone, he tried timidly and in the same terms to hazard one or two of the more anodyne observations he had heard from his mamma. Emma proved to him with a word that he was mistaken, and sent him off to his patients. [1886, Gustave Flaubert, chapter VII, in Eleanor Marx-Aveling, transl., Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners […], London: Vizetelly & Co., […], →OCLC, part I, page 47:]
  • [T]he cameo cutters were also skilful in mortal portraiture, and papa and mamma, still expectant of my future greatness, resolved to have me carved in cameo. [1887, John Ruskin, “Cumæ”, in Præterita. Outlines of Scenes and Thoughts Perhaps Worthy of Memory in My Past Life, volume II, Orpington, Kent: George Allen, →OCLC, pages 71–72:]
  • Silly Mamma, of course you should have your hair done like other Mammas. [a. 1984 (date written), Rebecca West [pseudonym; Cicily Isabel Fairfield], chapter I, in This Real Night, London; Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan London, published 1984, →ISBN, part 1, page 10:]
  • All the flowers that you planted, mama, in the backyard / All died when you went away [1990 January 8, Prince Rogers Nelson, “Nothing Compares 2 U”, in I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, performed by Sinéad O’Connor, London: Chrysalis Records, →OCLC:]
  • The exhibition of the New Society of Water-Colour Painters has grown to be quite as handsome and agreeable as that of its mamma, the old Society in Pall Mall East. [1844 June, Michael Angelo Titmarsh [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “[Critical Reviews of Books and Pictures.] May Gambols; or, Titmarsh in the Picture Galleries.”, in Miscellaneous Essays, Sketches and Reviews (The Works of William Makepeace Thackeray; XXV), London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1885, →OCLC, page 256:]
  • That they should spend their Christmas at Merle Park was an acknowledged thing;—to mamma Tringle an acknowledged benefit, because she liked to have her daughter with her; to papa Tringle an acknowledged evil, because he could not endure to be made to give more than he intended to give. [1878 April 25 – September 24 (date written), Anthony Trollope, “Lady Albury’s Letter”, in Ayala’s Angel […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall […], published 1881, →OCLC, page 59:]
  • About a.d. 1150 Mango Capac and Mama Oella, his sister-wife [Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo], appeared by the Lake Titicaca. [1799, Robert Southey, “[Ideas and Studies for Literary Composition.] Mango Capac”, in John Wood Warter, editor, Southey’s Common-place Book. Fourth Series. Original Memoranda, etc. […], London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, published 1850, →OCLC, page 4, column 1:]
  • [W]hat would I do supposing the Jane on whom I had always looked as a steady mamma had handed me the old skimmer and told me to take all the air I needed because she had gotten another sweetie? [1927 April 9, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “The Story of William”, in Meet Mr. Mulliner, London: Herbert Jenkins […], published 27 September 1927, →OCLC, page 179:]
  • I need to talk to mama before I buy the car.
  • Whoa, that chick in the bikini is a real mama!

Etymology

1. The origin of the noun is uncertain; it is probably a reduplication of ma, thought to be a sound made by babies when breastfeeding. The word is possibly influenced by Middle French maman (“mother”) (modern French maman), mamme (both probably from Latin mamma (“breast; nurse; (childish) mother, mama; grandmother”), probably cognate with Ancient Greek μᾰ́μμη (mắmmē, “breast; (childish) mother, mama; (Koine) grandmother”), both possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂- (“to nurse; mama, mother”)), but this is also uncertain as all the words could have developed independently as onomatopoeias.
2. Etymology 1, noun sense 3 (“(Caribbean) used as a term of address for a woman”) is possibly partly from a West African language; compare Akan mmá, mmaa (“woman”).
3. The interjection and verb are derived from the noun. See: French Nouns 'maman', Latin Nouns 'mamma'.